Get a Claude API key

This guide walks you through getting a Claude API key from Anthropic and adding it to Recall. It takes about 10 minutes. You need an email address and a payment card.

The provider's website changes now and then. If a button is named a little differently from what you see here, look for the closest match.

1. Create your account

1. Open platform.claude.com. This is the Claude Console, the place for API keys. (It isn't claude.ai, the chat website.)
2. Sign up with your email address or your Google account.
3. If you signed up with email, open the email Anthropic sends you and click the link in it.
4. Answer the short welcome questions. For personal use, answer as an individual.

You're now in the Console.

2. Buy some credit

The API is paid in advance. Start small: you can add more any time.

1. Open Settings › Billing (direct link).
2. Add your payment card and buy credits, for example $5 or $10.
3. Leave auto-reload switched off. Then you're never charged more than you chose to buy.

3. Set a spending limit

This caps what can ever be spent per month, even if your key ever leaked.

1. Stay on Settings › Billing and find Spend limits.
2. Click Set limit (or Adjust limit), enter a monthly amount you're comfortable with (for example $10), and save.

4. Create the API key

1. Open Settings › API keys (direct link).
2. Click Create key.
3. Give it a name you'll recognise, for example Recall.
4. Choose an expiration, for example 90 days. After that date the key stops working, and you simply make a new one. Recall reminds you before it happens.
5. If you're asked for a Linked account, choose yourself.
6. Click to create it. The key appears on screen. It starts with sk-ant-.
7. Copy it now, with the copy button next to it. The Console shows the key only this once. If you lose it, delete it and create a new one.

5. Add the key to Recall

1. Sign in to Recall and open Settings.
2. Under API keys, paste the key into Anthropic API key (Claude).
3. Enter the key's expiry date, so Recall can remind you before it runs out.
4. Click Save API keys.
5. Under Models, check which Claude model Recall should use. The default is fine to start with.

That's it. Create a topic, add some material and make your first exam.

Something went wrong?

What you see	What to do
Recall says your credit is too low	Buy more credit under Settings › Billing in the Console.
Recall says the key isn't valid	Check that you copied the whole key. If needed, create a new one.
You lost the key	Delete it under Settings › API keys and create a new one.
You think someone else has your key	Delete it right away under Settings › API keys, then create a new one and add it to Recall.
The key expired	Create a new key and paste it into Recall's Settings.

Back to the wiki home, or read Get an OpenAI API key instead.